Rupee slips 5 paise to 73.73 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The Indian rupee edged lower by 5 paise to trade at 73.73 against the US dollar in opening deals on Monday due to fresh demands for dollar from banks and importers.

Though a sustained bull run in the domestic equity market and the dollar’s weakness against key rivals overseas lent some support to the rupee and checked its further fall, analysts said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 73.70 and slid further to 73.73 as the trade progressed, logging a loss of 5 paise against the greenback over its previous close.

On Friday, the Indian currency had closed 4 paise down at 73.68 against the US dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell by 0.11 percent to 93.22.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex was trading 114.73 points or 0.19 percent higher at 60,163.20. Similarly, the NSE Nifty was trading 23.25 points or 0.13 percent up at 17,876.45.

Meanwhile, global crude oil benchmark Brent futures advanced 1.19 percent to USD 79.00 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Friday as they purchased shares worth Rs 442.49 crore, as per exchange data.